Drones to Race at BMW Welt

Innovative technology, action-packed racing and international championships: more and more people around the world are discovering a passion for drone racing. BMW is collaborating with the Drone Racing League (DRL), an international drone racing league, to further develop high-performance racing drones in the BMW Group wind tunnel and bring a professional drone race to BMW Welt.

“The partnership with DRL will enhance BMW’s racing involvement with future-oriented formats,” said Jörg Reimann, Head of BMW International Brand Experience. “Drone racing is a very competitive type of racing, characterized by the interplay of extremely high-performance material and digital technology. This represents an environment in which BMW has assumed a pioneering position for many years in its core business. We are very much looking forward to this collaboration and to the new event formats that we will be developing together with our partners.”

DRL organizes one of the largest global drone racing series, the DRL Allianz World Championship, in which elite FPV (First Person View) pilots race custom-made DRL drones through complex, three-dimensional courses in iconic venues across the world. As the Official Partner, BMW is bringing the penultimate race of the 2018 season to Munich on July 28, taking place at BMW Welt. The race will be broadcast this fall in more than 75 countries.

A previous exhibition by the DRL at BMW Welt.

“We’re thrilled to be partnering with BMW, a world-class motorsports brand with a rich legacy of innovation. We look forward to bringing the futuristic sport of drone racing to BMW Welt and putting our proprietary technology to the test to make history with BMW,” said DRL CEO and founder, Nicholas Horbaczewski.

Last year, DRL hand-built the DRL RacerX, the fastest racing drone on earth, which set the Guinness World Record™ for the fastest ground speed by a battery-powered remote-controlled quadcopter at a speed of 265.87 km/h (165.2 mph). Thanks to a close collaboration with the BMW Group, DRL will now aim to break this record. Tests will take place in the wind tunnel at the Aerodynamic Test Center with this ambitious goal in mind, allowing DRL to leverage the technological expertise of the car and motorcycle manufacturer.